0319 亞伯拉罕的信心生活
出去的時候，還不知往哪裡去。 《希伯來書 11:8》
在舊約中，一個人與神的關係是通過他生活中的分離程度來看的；這種分離展現在亞伯拉罕的生活中，由他與他的國家和家人的分離可見。今天，當我們想到分離時，並不是指從字面上與那些與神沒有個人關係的家人真的分離，而是指心思上和道德上與他們的觀點分離。這就是耶穌基督在路加福音14:26中所指的。
過着信心的生活意味着永遠不知道你會被帶向何處，但確實意味着愛並認識那一位帶領者。那確實是一種信心的生活，而不是理解和理性的生活——是認識呼召我們前行的主的生活。信心是紮根在對那個人的認識；而我們掉入的最大陷阱之一，就是認為如果我們有信心，神一定會帶領我們在世上成功。
信心生活的最後階段是品格的達到，在這個過程中我們會遇到許多變化。當我們禱告時，我們感覺到神的同在，然而我們只是短暫地改變了。我們傾向繼續回到我們的日常生活方式，而榮耀消失了。
信心的生活不是如鷹展翅上騰那樣經歷一次又一次榮耀的山頂體驗，而是日復一日前後一致的生活；是一種行走卻不疲乏的生活（見以賽亞書 40:31）。那甚至不是成聖的聖潔問題，而是進一步更長遠的問題；那是一種經過考驗和證明，經得起考驗的信心的生活。亞伯拉罕不是成聖的聖潔預表或典範，而是信心生活的預表——一種經過試煉且真實的，建立在真神之上的信心。 「亞伯拉罕信神」（羅馬書 4:3）
來自章伯斯的智慧
狂熱分子是一個將自己根深蒂固於無敵的無知之中的人。《力圖更佳戰鬥》
0319 Abraham’s Life of Faith
He went out, not knowing where he was going. —Hebrews 11:8
In the Old Testament, a person’s relationship with God was seen by the degree of separation in that person’s life. This separation is exhibited in the life of Abraham by his separation from his country and his family. When we think of separation today, we do not mean to be literally separated from those family members who do not have a personal relationship with God, but to be separated mentally and morally from their viewpoints. This is what Jesus Christ was referring to in Luke 14:26.
Living a life of faith means never knowing where you are being led. But it does mean loving and knowing the One who is leading. It is literally a life of faith, not of understanding and reason— a life of knowing Him who calls us to go. Faith is rooted in the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest traps we fall into is the belief that if we have faith, God will surely lead us to success in the world.
The final stage in the life of faith is the attainment of character, and we encounter many changes in the process. We feel the presence of God around us when we pray, yet we are only momentarily changed. We tend to keep going back to our everyday ways and the glory vanishes.
A life of faith is not a life of one glorious mountaintop experience after another, like soaring on eagles’ wings, but is a life of day-in and day-out consistency; a life of walking without fainting (see Isaiah 40:31). It is not even a question of the holiness of sanctification, but of something which comes much farther down the road. It is a faith that has been tried and proved and has withstood the test. Abraham is not a type or an example of the holiness of sanctification, but a type of the life of faith— a faith, tested and true, built on the true God. “Abraham believed God…” (Romans 4:3).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
A fanatic is one who entrenches himself in invincible ignorance. –Baffled to Fight Better, 59 R